"Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives."
I thought that Combiners could never be in the Transformers Trading Card Game. I thought they were impossible.
I thought wrong.
Combiners are coming in Wave 2 of the TFTCG, aptly christened "Rise of the Combiners", it features 46 character cards and 81 Battle Cards, with
6 full teams of Combiners. That's right, with six teams and more or less five members per-team, we're looking at a solid 30 characters devoted to Combining.
So. How do they combine? Cards only have two sides, ergo they can't have a robot, alternate
and limb mode, right?
That's where you'd be wrong.
See, Combiners are made up of smaller characters in more way than one. These Combiner Teams are comprised of unique folding cards, with one side having the limb mode and the other side having the robot and alternate mode. Simply fold the card in half with the specially designed crimping and you have a character -- albeit smaller than others -- who has three modes.
To show this off, the TFTCG Facebook page has posted a video showing off this feature
HERE.
To combine into their gestalt forms, all Combiners are printed with another companion Battle Card called an Enigma. To use this Battle Card, it requires all of the team members to be in robot form, though it does not require them to be currently among the living to combine.
Damage and some Upgrades carry over, including the damage from the currently KO'd, so it's best not to be damaged when you finally combine to make use of your massive health pool, especially since you're likely to start taking a lot of damage from plenty of other sources when you finally combine.
But that's enough on the rules. Let's do a breakdown of the cards we've seen thus far. They all have 5 Stars, of course, so there aren't too many standouts in terms of power -- but there is plenty of utility to go around here.
__________TRANSFORMERS__________
He's the leader of the bunch -- you know him well -- now he's finally back, to kick some tail!
Razorclaw should be respected, and not just because he's a Leader. Leaders -- more specifically, Decepticon Leaders -- might get their turn for the limelight in this wave, especially with how many Leaders are going to be present. But aside from speculation, there is a very important ability that he has that is worth noting.
Razorclaw, like the Super Rare Bumblebee, can attack untapped characters. That means, turn two (or one if you went second), he can attach a Grenade Launcher and deal 7 base attack against something squishy on your field, like Arcee. He's going to be an utter nuisance to people who play glass cannon decks with a specific order of operations, like Cars or Insecticons.
But, his stats aren't much to write home about. You'll notice that same thing with the other members of his team, but they are all 5 Stars, so that's something you should definitely consider.
Since he's 5 Stars, you can splash him onto teams very easily, making him a contender for other teams even outside of his Predacon archetype.
He doesn't dive, nor is he the bomb.
Divebomb doesn't really
do anything. In his bird form, he's a painfully average vanilla. If you Transform him, he's even worse. His only saving grace is his ability, which can Scrap an Action from your opponent's hand if they happen to reveal one by chance. If they don't, then... Well, he has 7 HP and 0 Defense. He's going to die if you attack with him in robot form -- it's a done deal.
My best guess is that you're supposed to transform with Divebomb last, making use of his effect and then combining everyone into Predaking. But other than that, he's really nothing to write home about. Outside of Predacons, he's a simply waaaaay worse pick than Flamewar. At least Flamewar gives your team buffs. She's even a Specialist!
All in all, his only niche so far is in Predacons. But that isn't the most interesting note about this picture. If you notice, there are
six icons pictured when showing his place on Predaking. This doesn't mean there are six members -- it was a Photoshop mistake by community manager John Schork, inadvertently revealing that there will be six-man teams, with Devastator being the most prominent of these.
A goof, yes, but a good goof for those of us who crave more information!
Head strong! Strong and brave! Brave strong!
Headstrong brings us one of our first looks at a new mechanic, "Brave". Brave reads that all characters that can attack Headstrong, do so. This is an amazing ability. This means that explosive turn one plays by high attack characters like Kickback or Optimus Prime -- Battlefield Legend are going to be directed not at your important characters like Razorclaw, but rather at this poor sod.
Sure, he doesn't have much punching power. At all. But as a sacrificial lamb so that his teammates can get their Transformations in? He may die, but that's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make. Especially if you happen to place a Force Field on him, he won't be able to get OHKO'd.
Brave is a great mechanic, and I honestly love this little guy. He'll probably even see play outside the Predacon archetype, with that Brave utility coming in handy with more "protect the president" styles of decks, like OptiCars for instance.
Where's The Rock?
Rampage is a fascinating character. His effects aren't actually that important, when you consider it. He heals one damage from each of your Predacons when an enemy is KO'd, which would be easy if you weren't doing two damage. He's great against other Combiners, but when you face off against a larger opponent, you're going to be hard-pressed to survive with these low health pools.
Against opposing Combiners, though, we can assume that they won't be OHKOing you like you to them, so Rampage becomes quite the important character in that regard, since enemies will be likely to be KO'd far easier than some of your larger friends.
Other than that, there's not too much to consider outside of the Predacon archetype.
This whole naming thing makes me want to throw a Tantrum!
Torox has a very interesting ability that prevents healing. There isn't too much healing going on in the game at the moment, especially with the high damaging meta we find ourselves in, but if there ever was a prevalent healing deck... I know who I would tech in to counter it. Torox's alternate mode stops all of your opponent's healing, which also makes me wonder if we're going to be seeing more healing in the game. He's also hilarious against the mirror match since Rampage wants to be healing everyone.
To make him even better, he draws a card when you Transform him to robot mode, and then we get another "new" mechanic, which is just a keyword for placing a card from your hand on top of your deck. It's good to know that there's a keyword for this common effect, since it will clear up card clutter.
The only bad part about this guy is that he has zero defense in
both modes, meaning, even though he has 9 HP, he's going to be dumpstered any time your opponent can take a random potshot at him. Sad, but Force Field and Heroism mitigate that to a large degree.
I honestly would love to see this guy in other lists if healing ever became a mainstay in the meta -- he provides too much utility to ignore.
"Balancing the universe in your hands isn't usually associated with 'fun'...
But this does put a smile on my face."
Dear god, this is happening.
Predaking is honestly a very, very big boy, and not just in terms of physical size. Mind you, each part of this guy is about six inches wide, and there are
five parts to this guy -- he's freaking ginormous. Just turn the playmat -- you're never going to tap him all the way.
So, as for his stats, they seem underwhelming at first. I know, 37 HP? Underwhelming? Well, when you combine, you carry over damage, even from KO'd characters. So, that high HP definitely chews itself up over the course of the game before you can ever hope to Combine. But the real staying power of Predaking is in his offensive prowess.
It should be noted that Combiners begin untapped and keep 1 Upgrade in each Upgrade slot from its individual pieces. But this guy has
5 Weapon slots. You can attach multiple Grenade Launcher, Energon Axe, Flamethrower, anything like that. His already high attack doubles to triples in mere moments, and if something isn't dead by the time you're through attacking, there is something
very wrong.
Of course, getting all five on my boy Exodia here can be a challenge, which is why he has the effect of being able to draw a card when you combine, and then play a card, including an Upgrade, for free. That's fantastic. Predaking is fantastic.
But there's a problem: He's the epitome of "tall". His defense is middling at best, and with all that damage you have no doubt racked up over the course of the game, you won't live for long. Either you combine early, or you combine as a last resort. Either way, Predaking is a beast of a Combiner. I just fear that, without proper support, most decks will be able to walk over them before they get a chance to set up.
"Come out of the bathroom, Predaking!"
"PUT DOWN THE TRIDENT!"
Windblade makes her debut in the TFTCG by doing the thing she does second-best: Make mince-meat out of Combiners. She's expensive, coming in at 12 Stars, and she's a Super Rare, but most importantly, she's actually very good at playing with smaller characters who wouldn't like going up against a big dude like Predaking.
She has an ability in robot form where, when she attacks a Combiner, each of your characters get Pierce 4 -- meaning, if you're still alive when that happens -- you're going to deal a massive amount of damage with a swarm of Pierce taking likely a good third of Predaking's health in one blow.
She's a combiner huntress, but I fear she is also just as much a one-trick-pony. I mean, what else will she do during the game? Won't the Combiner team just focus her down and then combine? It's an interesting dynamic for sure, but I'm sure Razorclaw is up for the challenge. It's good to know that someone who clearly is meant to nerf the Combiner's effectiveness isn't without her counterplay.
Windblade also has access to a very interesting ability in her plane mode, where she may reveal the top card of your deck, and if it has more than one pip color, you can play it for free. i.e. Cards like Roll Out. This is a really interesting ability, but without more cards that have multiple colors, I can't see her making much use of this ability. Although, you
can pull it off without a hitch with Planning effects, but the extent of those remains to be seen.
She'll be difficult to fit anywhere else but her own archetype, sadly. But she's definitely one to watch.
__________BATTLE CARDS__________
An enigma, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in bacon.
This is the first of the Enigma battle cards we're getting for our Combiners, and you'll notice something straight away: That's a
green pip. There is not a green pip in the game yet, and there has already been speculation all over the place.
Could it be healing? Could it be draw? Could it be placing that card in your hand instead of Scrapping it? There are countless opinions in the game of speculation, but one thing remains a constant: It's the only way to combine your Combiners.
Also that is a
garish orange background.
You may also notice that it's a very good card that acts like a New Designs on
freaking speed. You have the ability to draw a card, then play an Upgrade, so not only is this card not completely dead in your hand after you combine, but it is your lifeblood while setting up your Predaking.
This card is nutty -- and I can't wait to find out what that green pip does. My money is on healing, especially with Torox.
UPDATE: It's been revealed that this green effect is putting it into your hand when you flip it! You have to discard a card first, but this is a fantastic idea for the health of the game! I'm so stoked for this!
__________CONCLUSION__________
All in all, I think the Combiners will likely be the most difficult combo to pull off. I mean think about it. With stats that low, turn one your opponent can KO a piece of your team and you would have little to no say in the matter. You can try to build your deck to counter that, but that's neither here nor there.
The fact remains that when you combine, you are built Tall. Exceedingly so. You'll be very weak to wider compositions, as they will be able to punish your inactivity with their overactivity. I can almost see times where I don't want to combine at all, which is actually a good thing; I dislike one-trick-ponies that play the same three cards a game and try to win that way.
That being said, I
do play the Pokemon TCG, so I'm a hypocrite.
Either way, there are so many things to love about this next wave and I am extremely excited to play with the Combiners. I'm just hoping that they're well supported -- otherwise, Nemesis/Optimus and Insecticons will remain on top.
Thanks for reading. Hope you learned something from my endless ramblings!
Check out my YouTube for my Transformers Trading Card Game lists, gameplay and general thoughts on the game!